8 undertrials escape from makeshift prison in Uttarakhand; 4 caught

Following the incident, AP Anshuman, inspector general (jail), has asked all the jail superintendents in the state to “assess the security arrangements of their jails”.

Four undertrials were caught by police by evening after eight of them escaped from a makeshift prison near Haridwar in the morning, said officials.

A police team on the lookout for the undertrials who managed to flee. (HT Photo)

The undertrials were kept in a government shelter for beggars which was turned into a makeshift prison in the lockdown period to keep the undertrials in quarantine for seven days as a precautionary measure amid the pandemic, said police. They were to be moved to a jail in Haridwar on Tuesday morning.

“As soon as the incident came to light, police reached the makeshift prison about 15 km from Haridwar city and took stock of the situation,” said Kamlesh Upadhyay, Superintendent of Police, Haridwar (city).

“Whole area was cordoned off. Search teams were immediately deployed in the area to find them. All the police stations in the district were put on high alert. Till evening, with the efforts in place, police succeeded in nabbing four of them who are now being interrogated to know the whereabouts of the remaining four,” said Upadhyay.

The officer informed that a hunt is still on to find the remaining four escapees and they are scanning the CCTV camera footage of the area.

Lakhpat Butola, station house officer, SIDCUL police station, who is involved in the hunt, said, “The escapees were identified as Sagar Chauhan, Nishant Verma and Nishu Verma, all residents of Roorkee, and Wajid, resident of Haridwar; Rajat, resident of Chamoli; Shubham Pawar, resident of Dehradun; Vipul resident of Manglaur and Bittu Kumar from Saharanpur are others.”

Following the incident, AP Anshuman, inspector general (jail), has asked all the jail superintendents in the state to “assess the security arrangements of their jails”.

“The incident happened in the shelter for beggars which falls under the monitoring of the district magistrate and not the jail department. Hence, the security arrangement was the responsibility of the district administration. But, we have directed all the jail superintendents of the state to assess the security in their jails and submit a report in the next few days,” said Anshuman.

He said, “Based on the report, necessary steps would be taken to ensure that such an incident is not repeated in future.”